5 Preparing for tomorrow (1/2)

'Hell, it's useless if I can't use it.'

It was always center of attention whenever he went to a local spa with friends. He definitely had something extraordinary and worthy of envy since none of his friends wanted to go to the spa anymore. A few even told him that it looked like he had come out from a porn movie. But good tool meant nothing if it wasn't being used.

”Hey, it's only a trip to a bar for you to become a king. No? Why don't we go now? Remember Yeonhee? She was searching for you ever since that one night, remember? She totally changed once you spent the night with her right? It's not much man, don't be too business-like.”

Joonbum walked into the store, casually nodding to what Jinchul was saying but not really paying any real attention. There were many items that caught his attention. Guns were displayed at the back of the counter and there were few more guns and ammunition in front. On the left were safety tools for hunting and navigation systems for hunting dogs.

'I will need guns, a crossbow, a bow, and... everything. I need some safety equipment too. That vest should be a good start. I'm sure that can block an arrow?'

Joonbum eyed the weapons and then moved to the safety equipment. Jinchul silently watched him scan through his goods and asked, ”Whoa, you are on fire man. Gun, bow, crossbow, and vests also? Are you going to war or something?”

”Huh?”

Jinchul closed in on Joonbum as his expression showed he was trying to hide something.

”Hey hey, what's going on? Charging in the middle of a night, looking for a gun and a vest… What are you up to?”

”N- no, it's nothing.”

”Did you get dumped? Is it a revenge? Trying to ambush on an affair? That is it, isn't it? C'mon, tell me now!”

”No no, it's nothing like that! Sergeant Cha, stop. I don't have time for this.”

Joonbum cut him off and Jinchul seemed disappointed to be stopped from his wild speculations.

”Nothing really? Oh well. You're such a boring guy. You could've spiced it up a bit you know.”

Jinchul rambled and stopped making fun of Joonbum. He then raised his chin at him with the notion of asking what business he had.

”I'm just trying to add some flare to the content. Trying to add hunting to the wild eating broadcast.”

”Oh, the one you've been talking about? I guess it's about time to start?”

”Yeah, I already got a hunting license so that will do.”

”It's finally on then?”

”Yeah. The viewer increase started to slow down so…”

”Sure sure. What should it be then? Hmm…”

Jinchul started glancing at his display of guns, fully believing what Joonbum had just said.

”I guess you would need some stronger ones? Don't say you just plan to hunt some wild birds. It's wild boars nowadays. It'll surely grab some attention. Oh and don't forget to mention they're a heck of a headache too.”

'Well, it's a gigantic wolf that I need to deal with, not boars.'

He couldn't voice out his thoughts, but there was part of him that wanted to share the unbelievable experience he had in the other world.

Joonbum softly asked, ”How strong should it be?”

Jinchul nodded and started explaining. ”Well, boars are one heck of a beast these days. Those animal rights bastards went all the way to stop boar hunting and now we are left with huge overgrown ones. Big ones weigh over a thousand pounds! That's half of what your truck weighs you know? Those are the ones in the mountains. If anyone encounters an angry one, he's a dead man.”

While he was energetically explaining, he reached out for his cabinet, took out a big claw, and put it on the table.

”This is the molar tooth of the boar.”

”Molar? I didn't know molars were sharp like that?”

”Right? Old man Choi hunted this one. Over 1,300 pounds, a predator. It even could have killed a tiger back in the day! Look. It's godly.”

”Wow… this is crazy.”

”One bite and you're finished!”

It definitely was a big tooth. It was almost six inches long and its root was really thick. It was also shaped like a claw, so it was easy to imagine what the boar's mouth would look like.

”Oh, I'll give you some meat the old man gave me. If you use it for your eating broadcast, it'll be great. Hold on, I'll bring it out.”

”Sure, thank you so much!”

Jinchul walked to the back of the store and Joonbum went back to surveying the weapons on display. There were crossbows, composite bows, and many kinds of swords used for hunting.

'Business seems to be slow.'

Business was, in fact, really slow. It was a ragged gun store at the border of the city where no one would really visit.

'I'm sure he said he inherited this place.'

Joonbum remembered Jinchul mention that when they were drinking. There was nothing special about it really. When Jinchul was employed at a company, he couldn't fit into the lifestyle. A few rinse-and-repeat cycles later, he ended up inheriting the store.

'That's almost an artifact,' Joonbum thought while looking at various weapons piled away at the corner. There were broken guns, crossbows, bows, and all sorts of stuff there.

”This one looks promising.”

Shifting his gaze away from the old pile back to the display, he caught sight of the best gun on there.

'Will this be enough?'

Most dangerous beast in Korea was a boar. The gun in front of him probably meant death for those boars.

'Three clean shots will do the trick, he said…'

Joonbum imagined the gigantic wolf that he tried not to think about for a while. Covered in black and gray fur with eyeballs as big as the fists of an adult, it had also had a mouth big enough to gobble a grown human in one bite. Its teeth looked so big that even the boar's tooth that Jinchul showed him looked like a toy in comparison.

'Gives me the chills to even think about it. One more encounter and I won't be able to survive.'

Just thinking of those monsters made his wound throb in pain. The most horrifying thing was that they could easily jump twenty feet high in a single jump. If there were no branches and twigs blocking the way, Joonbum would not have survived the attack.

'It might work for sure, but it will take more than three shot unless I hit the eyeball or something.'

”Did you look around?”

Jinchul came back with a big plastic bag loaded with boar meat.

”Ah, that one's good, isn't it?”

”Yeah, it's great.”

Jinchul proudly smiled at the gun Joonbum was looking at. He was eager to show it off.

”That's the Beretta 1301 Comp 24-inch-long semi-automatic shotgun. It's foolproof. The black shows off its strength. The one next to it is the Benelli 828U 12-gauge, 28-inch. It's a good model too. The one next to it is the Arabesque. The Benelli is a looker, right?”

As he said, it looked very charming. Unlike the Beretta, the Benelli was decorated heavily with its flashy color design.

”Beretta… um, how much is it?” Joonbum hesitated and asked for a price of the used gun. Jinchul flashed a smile.

”Hmm. How much can you pay?”

”You know I don't have much. The cheaper the better.”